Chapter 207
JARIS
At first, I felt nothing, my mind numb. Then, a small laughter slipped through, followed by a bigger one.
“Lyric,” I repeated, still laughing.
Then, just like a switch had been turned off, I stopped abruptly. “Why don’t you tell me, which part of your brain has been affected? Is it terminal? Are you going to die? Oh, I hope you do die ‘cause your brain is definitely tired of working.”
“I’m serious,” Caden said.
“And I was serious when I said I hope you do die.”
A brief moment of silence, followed by an atmosphere thick with tension
“I need her,” he sighed. “I’ve been searching for her for years and didn’t know can. Hand her over, and you’ll never hear from me again.”
she
Ur mate this whole time. I’m trying to make this as peaceful as I
“Too bad that is never happening,” I tsked. “As a matter of fact, you’re an asshole for even spitting this trash. How possible do you think it is that I’d gladly hand Lyric to you? You mention her name one more time, and I’ll damn the stupid oath we took. I’ll kill you, Caden.”
“Oh, we both know you wouldn’t,” he chuckled. “You’d have done it long before now, Jar, considering everything I’ve done. Same way I could’ve easily killed you to get you out of my way. We might hate each other, but the oath between us is stronger than that: It’s too fucking hard to break.”
If I clenched my hands any more fiercely, I’d likely rupture a few muscles.
I leaned my back against the wall of the window, brushing my fingers into my hair.
A different kind of rage ran through me from the fact that he was right. We’ve had plenty of time to kill each other. Eight years ago, I could’ve easily killed him instead of putting him to sleep. He could’ve also easily done the same when he regained his freedom.
But here we both were, at each other’s necks.
“I don’t ever wanna hear your voice, Caden. Especially not with Lyric’s name. I mean it,” I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible.
His voice was still icy when he spoke. “I’m trying to be the reasonable one here you know? For the first time, I’m promising to leave you alone. Are you willing to jeopardize your Kingdom for a woman you could get elsewhere?”
I laughed a dark humourless sound. Gods, I wished he was here now so my claws could do some talking.
“If only you know just how far I’m working to go for Lyric, you wouldn’t mention such nonsense.”
There was a brief silence.
“You won’t like my reaction if you deny me this, Jaris. Trust me, you wouldn’t know what’s coming. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen.
“And what my reaction would be?” I scoffed. “Nothing will prepare you for it.”
I dropped the call, angrily tossing the phone to the bed.
I put on some clothes and went out to check for Lyric. I needed to be sure that the asshole hadn’t tried to reach her in some sort of way.
Knocking on her door, a weak voice answered. “Who’s there?”
Normally, she’d have come to get the door.
Chapter 207
I opened the door and found her lying on the bed, covered with a duvet up to the chin. She was shivering, her face pale. An alarm went on in my
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I hurried forward to sit on the bed.
I touched her skin and frowned at how hot it was.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” My tone was slightly scolding.
“I’m.. fine.” She adjusted herself so her head rested on her legs.
“Like hell you are. Why haven’t you called anyone to check on you?”
“I have. They already gave me some treatments. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine in a couple of hours.”
She had to speak slowly so I could hear her.
I forgot all about what I’d come to ask as I focused on taking care of her. I ordered the kitchen to make something hot for her, then I messaged her scalp until she fell asleep.
d
But even asleep, she was still shivering, making me damn worried. Did it have to do with the baby? Was she going to be fine?
My phone started ringing beside me. Marta.
That was when I remembered the outing I’d been getting ready for her.
I cursed under my breath as I looked at Lyric’s shivering form. There was no way I could leave her like this.
I ended the call and texted Marta, telling her we’d go out together some other time as I needed to take go with the kids for now.
Not long after I sent the text, someone knocked rapidly on the door.
Luckily, they didn’t wake Lyric up.
I went for the door and wasn’t exactly surprised when I found Marta. I was just pissed.
“Seriously? She’s the reason you’re cancelling your plans with the kids?” She rasped.
“If you don’t watch your tone with me, I’ll have you thrown out of this place.”
care of something. I told her to take a friend and
“Oh, really?” She chuckled bitterly. “We planned this some days ago. You really think I don’t have any right to be upset?”
“Lyric is sick. She doesn’t have anyone to take care of her. So, I have to stay back.”
Her gaze burned with increasing wrath. “And it hasn’t occurred to you that she’s probably faking this? She’s doing this to ruin our plans!”
I pinched the space between my brows, already developing a headache from her nagging.
“Make the kids understand. We’ll just go some other time. For now, I need to rest, and please, Marta, don’t give me reasons to restrict you from this section of the house.”
I stepped back in and shut the door.
LYRIC
It wasn’t until the following morning that I felt better. I didn’t even remember most of what happened the previous night as the medications helped me sleep a lot.
08:21
Fri, 20 Jun
Chapter 207
Jaris had spent the night with me, and I woke up with his arms wrapped around my waist, spooning me from behind.
A doctor came to check on me, then we had breakfast together. He had to leave to attend to some important matters, but before leaving, he strictly warned me not to attend to anyone for the day, promising to get me punished if I did.
I was bored during the day and called Maddy to follow me see a movie in the home theater.
She happily agreed to meet me in the room.
Walking there, Jace and I exchanged texts about Penelope. He’d gone to check on her this morning and told me the good news about her memories returning. She said she remembered meeting me when I was pregnant and taking me in. But that was as far as the memory went. Sadly.
At least, it gave me hope. Soon, there will be fully back and I’ll know where my kids are.
I was close to the theater room when I spotted Xylon and Xyla approaching. I came to a halt, not liking the upset look on their faces. Who got them mad?
As they got close, I imagined how much I’d missed them. I missed playing with them, watching them argue and getting to settle them. I missed when they came to me for opinions and all. I didn’t replace how important these kids have become to me until now.
“Hey!” I beamed. “How’re you d―”
“Why did you stop daddy from coming with us yesterday?” Xyla threw at me, folding her arms.
I scoffed as I glanced around. Were they actually referring to me?
“What’re you talking about, honey?” I crouched, my hands on my knees.
“Daddy was supposed to take us out to the movies. You stopped him from coming with us. Why would you do that?!” Her voice rose a notch.
Xyla definitely had her father’s temper.
“I didn’t stop him, Xyla. I didn’t even know you all had plans of seeing a movie. I mean-”
“Liar! You faked being sick so he could stay back and take care of you. You deceived him. Why would you do that to us, aunt Lyric?!”
My heart crumbled in a bitter ache. Gods, I’ve missed hearing them call me that name.
It suddenly made sense. Yesterday when Jaris took care of me, he had plans with the kids? Goodness, I had no idea! Why would he ruin it for
“You used to be nice to us,” Xyla continued. “But mummy is right. You just want daddy for yourself. And you used us to get close to him.”
“When you took care of me,” Xylon’s voice was calmer but hurt, his eyes dropping to the floor. “Was it to make daddy like you?”
my
sake?
AD
